Govt mulling over tax incentives to encourge budget hotels

Kochi, Sep 27 (UNI) India faces a shortage of 150,000 budget hotel rooms and to bridge this gap, the Union Tourism and Finance Ministries are trying to work out a mechanism to give tax incentives to private players who put up budget hotels, Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said today.

Speaking on the occasion of the 'World Tourism Day', at the inaugural function of the Kerala Travel Mart 2006 (KTM 2006) here this evening, Ms Soni said 10,000 'bed and breakfast' rooms would be added to the category of budget accommodation this year.

She said the government was taking several other pathbreaking measures, including outsourcing of staff to issue visas during the peak tourist season, to facilitate easy travel to India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was seized with the issue of granting visa-on-arrival to tourists and this was discussed at a meeting, convened by Dr Singh last week, of the tourism and related ministries, she said.

It was decided at the meeting to give long-term visas, of five to ten years duration, with multiple entries, she added.

The External Affairs Ministry had agreed that Indian embassies in other countries would outsource visa staff during the peak season so that a tourist to India would not have to wait for more than 36 to 48 hours for a visa, she said.

Singling out medical tourism as the next big thing in Indian tourism, the minister said to promote this, special 'medical visas' of one-year duration for the patient and one companion were issued.

The visa duration can be extended upto three years.

With the adoption of the 'open skies policy', more private airlines were coming up and the airports in 35 major cities were being developed to world standards, she said.

Stating that there was a 60 billion dollar market potential in the segment of holding conventions and international meetings, Ms Soni said India wanted a share of this and to this end, construction of international standard convention centres would be encouraged.

Ms Soni also released the theme for the 'World Tourism Day', which is, 'Tourism enriches individuals, families, communities and all the world'.

She said, she was very happy to be spending the World Tourism Day in Kerala, which was in the forefront of the tourism industry in the country. She also lauded the state's initiative to ensure that no strike or agitation marred a tourist's stay in Kerala.

Earlier, in his inaugural address, Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the government wanted to promote 'responsible tourism'.

While playing hosts to tourists, the state wanted to preserve its untainted beauty and socio-cultural values and also use tourism as a means of providing employment so that the benefits of this sector reached the villages.

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